AUDIENCE WITH HIS BEATITUDE THEOPHILOS

GREEK ORTHODOX PATRIARCH OF 23 October 2017

THE HOLY FATHER'S ADDR ESS reconciliation and concord . This contribution will be the Your Beatitude, more effective to the extent that there is harmony between Dear Brothers, the region’s different Churches. Particularly important in this regard would be increased cooperation in With great joy I welcome all of you to Rome. I supporting Christian families and young people , so that reciprocate with gratitude and fraternal affection the they will not be forced to leave their land . By working warm welcome Your Beatitude offered me during my together in this delicate area, the faithful of different visit to Jerusalem. Still fresh in my mind is the confessions will also be able to grow in mutual knowledge attentiveness with which you accompanied Ecumenical and fraternal relations. Patriarch Bartholomew and myself in the Basilica that Here I would reaffirm my heartfelt desire and preserves the places of the Lord’s crucifixion, burial commitment to progress on our way to full unity , in and Resurrection. still moved when I think of our obedience to ’ fervent prayer in the Cenacle “that they moment of prayer in the aedicule of the empty Tomb, may all be one… so that the world may believe” (Jn 17:21). and I again express my pleasure at the restoration of I know that past wounds continue to affect the memory that most holy place. It has not simply secured the of many people. It is not possible to change the past, integrity of a historical monument, but also enabled the but, without forgetting grave failures of charity over the empty tomb to continue to testify that: “He has risen, centuries , let us look to a future of full reconciliation and he is not here; see the place where they laid him” fraternal communion , and take up the work before us, as (Mk 16:6). I rejoice that the Greek Orthodox the Lord desires . Not to do so today would be an even Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Armenian Patriarchate of graver fault; it would be to disregard both the urgent call Jerusalem and the Franciscan Custody of the Holy of Christ and the signs of the times sown by the Spirit Land have worked together in such harmony on this along the Church’s path. Inspired by the same Spirit, may project, as they also did for the Basilica of the Nativity we not let the memory of times marked by lack of in . I thank Your Beatitude very much for communication or mutual accusations , or present your own efforts in this regard. difficulties and uncertainty about the future , prevent us Our meeting allows me to renew my closeness from walking together towards visible unity, nor hinder to all those suffering from the conflicts that for us from praying and working together to proclaim the decades have beset the Holy Land. The uncertainty of and to serve those in need . In this regard , the the situation and the lack of understanding between the ongoing theological dialogue between Catholics and parties continue to create insecurity, the restriction of Orthodox, in which the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of fundamental rights, and the flight of many people from Jerusalem participates actively and constructively , is a their land. I invoke God’s help in this, and I ask all comforting sign of hope on our journey . How good it those involved to intensify their efforts to achieve a would be to say of Catholics and Orthodox living in stable peace based on justice and recognition of the Jerusalem what the Evangelist Luke said of the first rights of all. To this end, any kind of violence, Christian community: “All who believed were together discrimination or displays of intolerance against Jewish, ... one heart and soul” (Acts 2:44; 4:32). Christian and Muslim worshipers, or places of worship, Your Beatitude, I thank you and the distinguished must be firmly rejected. The Holy City, whose Status members of your entourage most cordially for your visit. Quo must be defended and preserved, ought to be a I reaffirm my closeness to our Christian brothers and place where all can live together peaceably; otherwise, sisters in the Holy Land, and my affection for our friends the endless spiral of suffering will continue for all. of the other great religions who live there. I hope and pray I would offer a particular greeting to the that the day of a stable and lasting peace for all will soon members of the various Christian communities in the come. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May they prosper Holy Land. It is my hope that they will continue to be who love you! [...] For my brethren and companions ’ sake recognized as an integral part of society and that, as I will say, ‘peace be within you!’” (Ps 122: 6-8). citizens and believers in their own right, they can [I would like us now to pray together for this, in the words continue tirelessly to contribute to the common good of the “Our Father”] and the growth of peace, striving to further Information Service 150 (2017/II) 7-8